While Iran's President Rouhani is losing support, he is still likely to win re-election: Analyst

President Rouhani still stands the highest chance of winning
re-election in the next presidential election, due May 2017, although his
popularity is fading due to weak economic performance, an Iranian university
professor has said.

President Rohani on cover of Mosalas magazine

"Mr. Rouhani's electorate will face a drop of some millions for his second
term," E'temad daily quoted Sadeq Zibakalam of Tehran University as saying.

"Still, he has a much higher chance of winning of the upcoming election," he
added.

In 2013, Rouhani won a landslide victory when more than 18 million Iranians
voted for him.

The political science professor cited poor economic performance of the Rouhani
administration as one reason for his shrinking popularity.

"Some strata of the society have grown disappointed that the government's
performance has not influenced their lives," Zibakalam explained.

People familiar with the issue relate the cabinet's sluggish economic agenda to
a focus on championing an international nuclear deal over the past three years
as well as huge backlog from previous administrations.

Zibakalam's comments come immediately after Rouhani launched a strong defense of
his economic agenda at a speech on Monday in Tehran, saying his cabinet has
succeeded to curb in soaring inflation rates and reach unprecedented growth.

"We have made huge progress in the economic sector as compared to 2012 when
growth and inflation were respectively negative 6.8 percent and 45 percent,"
Rouhani said.

More robust economy is expected as the country is emerging from years of
sanctions after the July 2015 nuclear deal, what Rouhani and his team saw as the
main hurdle to moving forward.

Under the deal, Iran accepted to limit its nuclear program in exchange for
sanctions relief.

In a recent report, Iran posted its strongest quarterly economic growth over in
more than a decade, where growth rose to 7.4 percent, compared to the same time
expansion last year.